A Look Back: Chamber of Secrets
by TheCompositionNotebook
Summary: After Harry's trial is over, Sirius, Remus, and a few others find out just how much trouble he's gotten himself into. A continuation of the first! This one focuses on the events of Harry's second year.
1. Chapter 1

**Here's the second installment of my A Look Back series! A Look Back: The Chamber of Secrets! You don't necessarily have to read the first one to understand this. It can be a stand-alone, but reading the first one will give you some context, as this one picks up right where the last one left off!**

**Alright! Here we go on our second journey! I hope all of you like this one as much as you liked the first!**

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"What could be more exciting than meeting Voldemort, nearly being killed, and being in a coma for three days?" Sirius asked, looking a little like he didn't want to know. "That seems to be more than exciting enough."

"For Harry?" Fred asked. "Of course not. That may be more than exciting enough for some people, but not him."

Sirius groaned and turned to his godson. "You know, your dad loved excitement too. But he didn't nearly get himself killed his first year. But I suppose, as long as you didn't nearly die this year too…?" he asked, trailing off hopefully.

There was an awkward silence as Harry looked around at Ron and Hermione, and then over to Ginny. All of them knew that… well, he'd come even closer to death second year. If it hadn't been for Fawkes, after all…

Sirius finally shook his head and began rubbing at his temples in an imitation of Remus. "Alright, if I'm not getting an answer I guess it's best to just keep plowing on through the story. Why don't you start with how your summer was? Hopefully your relatives… no, those terrible excuses for human beings you were forced to live with were more decent to you?"

There was another awkward pause. Harry didn't exactly want to speak up and tell everyone- or more specifically Sirius- about how that summer had been. But he knew he had no choice, as he'd promised to tell everything exactly as it was.

"Well, I could say that. But I figure you wouldn't want me to lie to you," Harry said. "I'd like to be able to say that was true, but it isn't. If anything, that summer was worse than ever before."

"Worse? Worse how?" Sirius asked angrily.

"It wasn't so much that they treated me worse that was the worst part. Although they certainly were… less fond of me. It was just that I knew all about Hogwarts and how great it was and how much I missed everything to do with it. Well, everything except Snape. And I was stuck there at Privet Drive with no link to that whole world that I was a part of. The only link I had was Hedwig, but she was locked in her cage at all times."

"They kept Hedwig locked in her cage?" Ginny asked, sounding furious. "What would they do that for?"

"They figured that I'd use her to send messages to all my freaky friends, and they weren't about to let that happen."

"But that's… that's cruel! Keeping in animal locked up in such a small cage day after day!" Ginny exclaimed. Hermione nodded too, a frown on her face.

"Believe me, I know. Hedwig didn't like it at all," Harry said. "She would screech a lot. And Uncle Vernon didn't appreciate that, either."

"It's his own fault for not letting her out at all," Hermione said indignantly.

"I told him that. She was bored, and she needed to be let out at night. But he didn't care. He just threatened to get rid of her," Harry said.

"Oh, he wouldn't dare," Sirius said, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"I don't think it was much more than an empty threat," Harry said. "If we could take a moment to remember, my uncle is very good at those. He was probably just still afraid that I'd get Hagrid to come back and turn Dud into an actual pig."

A few people snorted, Sirius included. "Still," he said after a second, "they better not take any of your things away from you." Harry made a face at that, causing Sirius's still amused expression to fade. "What?" he asked, a darker look already forming on his face.

"Well," Harry said, carefully approaching what he was going to say. "They didn't technically take my stuff away. They just… didn't let me have it either."

"What do you mean didn't let you have it?" Sirius asked, gripping the arm of his chair very tightly.

"They kind of… took all my wizarding stuff and locked it in my old bedroom under the stairs," Harry said gently. It didn't quite spare Sirius's reaction, however.

"They locked your things away? How dare they do that! They took everything from you?" he said angrily, half rising from his seat.

"Sirius, stop," Harry said, shaking his head and attempting to calm his godfather down. "This was three years ago, okay? I've got all my stuff now and I'm fine, alright?"

Sirius stopped and sat back again, looking a little sheepish as he always did when he got angry enough to have an outburst.

"We're all angry at how Harry's relatives treated him, Padfoot," Remus said, "but we can't go getting ourselves into any trouble because of it."

Sirius nodded, still looking a little bit sour. "Continue, Harry."

"Right. Anyway, that was part of why that summer wasn't any fun. There was also the fact that I didn't hear from anyone, too. Not a word. No letters, no messages, nothing."

"No one sent you anything? But Ron and Hermione surely…" Sirius said, looking over to the two he'd mentioned.

"I didn't get anything," Harry said again. A few accusatory glances were sent Ron and Hermione's way, and Harry kept talking, eager to get through this portion of the story. "In fact, I'd been back exactly a month and nothing. I remember that day because not only did it particularly memorable because of a few… events, it was also my birthday."

"I don't suppose particularly memorable means that you had a great birthday party and lots of cake and a few nice gifts, would it?" Mrs. Weasley asked hopefully.

"Of course not!" Harry said, laughing. "In fact, they clean forgot about my birthday. Well, at least my aunt and uncle did."

"You can't be saying Dudley actually remembered?" Ron said, looking surprised.

"Well, for a minute I'd almost thought that my uncle had remembered. We were eating breakfast and he was particularly angry because I'd said the word 'magic'. I was only saying 'you forgot the magic word' because Dudley hadn't said please when he asked me to pass him the bacon. But Uncle Vernon freaked out and shouted about my 'abnormality' some before he settled down," Harry said, slightly amused at how easy it had been to set his uncle off.

"Abnormality," Sirius muttered contemptuously, shaking his head slightly. Harry ignored it.

"Uncle Vernon then said something like 'we all know today is a very special day'. And then he went on to talk about how he was having a few clients over for a business dinner."

"Of course. He cares more about making his money than about you," Hermione said scathingly.

"Oh, he definitely does," Harry said, causing a few other people to look slightly disgusted. "Of course, then they started going over this ridiculous schedule of where everyone would be and what they'd be doing. Aunt Petunia would be waiting to graciously welcome them and Dudley would take their coats. She'd usher them into the lounge and Dudley would offer his arm. And every time my uncle asked me what I'd be doing, I'd just say 'I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there'."

"That's a fine way to spend your birthday, pretending you don't exist," Remus said, a little forced smile on his face.

"It wouldn't have been that bad," Harry said, ignoring most of the upset looks sent his way. "In fact, that probably would have been better than what actually happened."

"What did happen?" Sirius asked.

"Well, my uncle told me to stay out of my aunt's way while she was cleaning, so I went out to the back garden. And like always, I started thinking about Hogwarts and how I missed everything, and especially everyone. And I started thinking about Voldemort. I'd just been staring at this bush while I was thinking, not really paying attention. But I realized that the bush was staring back at me," Harry said.

"Wait, the bush was looking at you?" Fred asked.

"Has dear Harry gone slightly mad being cooped up with his relatives at this point?" George added gently.

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, I wasn't going crazy. Although that probably isn't such a bad guess. Either way, the bush was staring at me. There were big green eyes peering through it and looking at me."

"What was watching you?" Ginny asked, eyes wide.

Ron suddenly nodded his head, smiling. Harry figured he's understood what had been watching had been none other than Dobby the House Elf.

"Well, I would have gone to investigate, but Dudley came outside just then. He said he knew it was my birthday and he asked me why I didn't have any gifts or letters from any of my friends from that freak place," Harry said, shaking his head again.

"Your cousin never gives up, does he?" George asked, sounding irritated for once. Harry laughed.

"No, he doesn't. He asked me then why I was staring at the hedge, and I told him I was trying to decide which spell would be best to set it on fire."

The Twins both snorted. "I bet he loved that."

"Oh, he definitely did. He started blubbering and saying that I wasn't allowed. So I started saying random things like 'hocus pocus' and 'jiggly wiggly' or some other made up things to scare him. And it worked, too. Because he ran inside to tell Aunt Petunia that I was doing magic."

"But you can't do magic outside of Hogwarts!" Ginny exclaimed. "Wouldn't your aunt know that?"

"Well, she knew I didn't actually do anything, because both Dudley and that bush were perfectly intact. But she still tried to hit me with a frying pan she was washing and then set me a very long list of chores to do outside."

"She tried to hit you with a frying pan?" Hermione asked, looking upset.

"Yeah, but I ducked," Harry said, shrugging. He didn't really want to tell everyone the next few things, but he knew he had to, so he just talked quicker to get through it all. "Anyway, I spent the rest of the day doing chores. Cutting the grass, tending to the flowerbeds, spreading manure, painting the bench, washing the car, the windows and a bunch of other stuff. Those are the ones I can remember that I did, but I know there was more. Though I do remember Dudley sitting around and eating ice cream while he watched me. And how tired I was when I finally came inside. It was around half seven, I think. Aunt Petunia gave me dinner- a slice of bread and a lump of cheese- and then ushered me upstairs just as the doorbell was ringing and Uncle Vernon's clients got there."

"All of that on your twelfth birthday?" Mrs. Weasley asked quietly after a few seconds of silence. "That's horrible."

"It wasn't very pleasant, no. But again, it's all over and done now. And this is how many times now that I've had to remind you all of that throughout this whole thing?" Harry said. He looked around at everyone, eyebrows raised. They all seemed to try to take the shocked and angry expressions off of their faces as his glare hit them, but most of them just succeeded in looking less surprised and more upset. Harry rolled his eyes. Again. "And of course, I'm fine now. It wasn't that bad."

"You play down everything that happened so much," Sirius said, shaking his head and looking grim. "They make you do all of that stuff and work you so much, then give you so little food. That's not acceptable. My godson- Lily and James's son shouldn't have to deal with that."

"And just weeks after you'd faced Voldemort and nearly died, as well," Remus said, looking just as sour as the rest of them.

Harry sighed again, becoming slightly. "So the Dursleys weren't always fair to me. But you all wanted me to tell you about what's happened. And Sirius, you made it very clear that I wasn't to skip anything, including what happened at Privet Drive. But honestly, that stuff isn't anything compared to what happened with Voldemort at school, is it? I had to do a day of chores on my birthday or I got a bad supper. But as we've established by now, I've had worse than that. So can we please just not make such a huge deal out of it all? Going back on all this stuff in such fine detail isn't exactly the easiest thing I've ever done, or the most pleasant."

A few people were looking slightly abashed, others a bit sad. But most of them nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Sirius said gruffly after a few seconds. "But you do have to realize, learning all of this isn't easy either. How you came into danger and nearly died, and then had a hard enough time at your relative's home on top of everything else."

Harry nodded as well, realizing his godfather was likely true. It was silent in the room for a minute as everyone reflected on everything that had happened so far, attempting to see things from the other's point of view. At least, until Hermione spoke up.

"Maybe… maybe we should take a break from this," she said slowly. She turned a little bit pink as all eyes turned towards her. "It's just, it's getting late anyways. And we'd all probably be calmed down a little bit in the morning."

"Hermione's right," Remus said. "It would do us some good to get some rest. We'd be able to come at this with a clearer head."

"Of course, look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said, standing up. "Ginny, dear, you should have gone to bed an hour ago!"

"Mum," Ginny groaned, crossing her arms. "I'm fine. This was important!"

"Yes, it was. But off to bed with you now. The same goes for the rest of you!" Mrs. Weasley said, looking around to her other children.

Harry stood up and stretched, relieved that Hermione had spoken up. A break was exactly what they needed in his opinion. It would break the tense atmosphere that hadn't really left since he'd told them about going down the trapdoor.

He wished everyone goodnight and started up the stairs to his room, followed by Ron. And he climbed into bed fifteen minutes later, rubbing at his scar and attempting to get it to settle down enough for him to sleep peacefully.

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**So, have I started off alright? Review please! This may be a new chapter in the story, but nothing has changed- I still love to hear what you all have to say! **


	2. Meeting Dobby and the Dinner Party

**Alright guys, chapter two! I gave you guys a bit of time to all find the story (and not to mention I had a horrible school project that slowed me down with writing this immensely) but I've got it up for you now! **

**And just to reward you all for waiting, this chapter is very much extra long!**

**Hope you like it!**

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The next morning, everyone gathered in the Drawing room again. Most everyone looked somewhat tired still, Harry noticed, like they hadn't gotten a good enough night of sleep. He certainly didn't, what with Voldemort causing his scar to throb painfully off and on. But he was used to that by now. It had been doing that since June.

Everyone else though, looked unusually tired. He guessed that it all had something to do with what they'd all learned yesterday. Probably kept up by thinking too much about it. Harry sighed, wishing everything wouldn't have been such a big deal. It was all in the past, finished, over and done with. There was no reason to worry or be upset over all of it. That wasn't going to change anything.

They all sat down in their respective places from the night before: the Trio on a couch against one wall, Sirius and Remus in armchairs across from them. Mr. Weasley sat on a couch against a wall to the Trio's left, a spot for his wife open by his side, and Fred and George were across from them, Ginny sitting on the floor and leaning against the smaller couch they occupied.

There was a bit of idle chatter between everyone before Mrs. Weasley came bustling in, magicking several trays through the door in front of her, each one holding several dishes full of food. They'd decided to eat breakfast in the drawing room, so that they could get straight back into the story and listen while they ate.

As soon as everyone had a plate (and it was quite full of food, as Mrs. Weasley made sure) Sirius nodded over at Harry and said, "Well, Prongslet. Whenever you're ready."

Harry nodded, chewing a piece of bacon. He swallowed and thought a few seconds before saying anything. He noticed that everyone did look much more relaxed now than they did the night before, which helped to calm his nerves considerably.

"Well, I think we were just at my Uncle's dinner party. I was just going upstairs, because the Masons were arriving." He debated on how to say the next part for a second, taking a sip of his juice. "I made it to my room and shut the door, then turned go sit on my bed. I was tired from the chores I'd done."

Harry looked around, making sure that everyone had let that go. A few people were still looking sour, Sirius included, but no one said anything. He nodded and continued.

"I figured I'd just go to sleep then. That way I wouldn't have to worry about staying quiet during the dinner party. But I couldn't sit down on my bed. Because there was already someone sitting on it."

"There was someone sitting on your bed already? But who could that be?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I had no idea who it was. I'd never met him before. Actually, I'd never met anyone remotely like him before," Harry said thoughtfully.

"What does that mean?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I knew right away that was the… not person, I suppose. That was what had been watching me from inside the shrub earlier," Harry said carefully.

"Wait, so whatever was sitting on your bed wasn't even a person?" Fred asked.

"Then what was it?" George added.

"Here's a hint. He had big floppy bat like ears, large green eyes, and he was wearing a pillow case," Harry said, grinning.

"A house elf?" Sirius asked.

"Not just any house elf," Ron said, now grinning as well.

"He immediately jumped off my bed and bowed to me, so low that his nose hit the carpet. And then he said something like 'Harry Potter! Sir! Dobby has wanted to meet you for so long! Tis such an honour!"

"Well that must have been awkward," George said.

"Just a random house elf in your home, bowing to you," Fred added.

"And it was wearing a pillowcase, which means it was probably in service to a family," Remus said.

"See, at the time I had no idea. I didn't even know what he was," Harry said. "I thanked him, and then I had to sit down in my desk chair because I was so surprised. I thought about asking 'What are you?' but thought that would sound rude, so I asked 'Who are you?'"

Several people chuckled, Harry included. Thinking back on it, his first meeting with Dobby was… well, nothing short of unique.

"Right, I know," Harry said. "But he introduced himself as 'Just Dobby, Dobby the House Elf.'"

"Good old Dobby," Ron said, grinning and shaking his head.

"Do you become well acquainted with Dobby the House Elf, then?" Sirius asked.

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, all of them wearing amused expressions.

"Well, yeah. I suppose you could say that," Harry said, grinning now too. "Anyway, his voice was high pitched enough that I was worried it would carry downstairs. And I told him that I didn't want to be rude, but it really wasn't the best time to have a House Elf in my bedroom. He looked so thoroughly put out that I immediately told him that I was very pleased to be meeting him and asked him why he'd come."

"Why would a House Elf working for a wizarding family come to see you? That's very strange," Remus said musingly.

"He said he had something very difficult to tell me," Harry said. "He didn't know where to start with it. I told him to sit down. And he burst into tears. Very loud, noisy tears."

"But your uncle! Did he hear that?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"Well, I thought I heard the voices floating up from downstairs falter a little before I got him calmed down. I thought I'd offended him, honestly, so I apologized. But he said that he'd never been asked to sit down like an equal by a wizard before," Harry said.

Hermione huffed next to him, crossing her arms. "Oh Hermione, don't start this again," Fred said.

"Well honestly!" she said hotly. "You can't deny that Dobby was treated horribly! Some of the things he was forced to do. They were horrible to him!"

"Who was?" George asked.

Hermione was on the verge of opening her mouth to respond, but Harry said, "You'll find out." He gave her a little glance and she sat back, still huffy. "Anyway, I finally managed to get him calmed down, and he sat staring at me with something like adoration."

"That was probably the moment he grew so attached to you, mate," Ron said.

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Even though I'd only asked him to sit down. I even tried to cheer him up then, and I said that he couldn't have met very many decent wizards, seeing as he'd never been asked to sit. He even shook his head. But then he jumped up and started banging his head on the window, shouting 'Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!'"

"What would he do that for?" Ginny asked, startled.

"I had no idea. All I knew at that moment was that he was being very loud and that he'd woken Hedwig up. She screeched and started beating her wings against the bars of her cage."

"Ooh, that can't have been good. Your uncle most likely heard that one," Fred said.

"He probably did," Harry said, nodding. "But I didn't hear anything from him, so I figured I was still okay. I managed to get Dobby to sit down again, although I noticed he'd gone a little cross eyed."

"Of course he did, he was repeatedly banging his head against the window," Hermione muttered.

"I asked him why he'd started doing that, and he said it was because he'd almost spoken badly about his wizard family. I didn't know what House Elves were at the time, so he explained to me that it was the family he was bound to serve forever," Harry said, ignoring Hermione, who shifted angrily next to him. "I asked him if they knew that he'd come to see me, and as I expected he said they didn't."

"He actually left without having permission? How was he able to do that?" Remus asked, looking interested.

"It was because he was treated so horribly," Hermione said.

"Hermione, we get it," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not talking about S.P.E.W.!" she said angrily, turning to glare at him. "I did research on house elves. I think it was because he was treated so horribly that he felt no real loyalty towards his wizarding family. So he didn't feel such a need to serve them."

"He did say that he'd have to punish himself for coming to see me, though," Harry said nodding. "He told me he'd have to shut his ears in the oven door.

Everyone cringed at that thought. "That's terrible!" Ginny said, touching her own ears as if she was trying to imagine having them shut in an oven door. She made another face.

"And wouldn't his masters notice if he'd shut his ears in the oven door, anyway?" George asked.

"Well, he said that he had to punish himself all the time, so probably not," Harry said.

"See?" Hermione burst out. "Things like this are perfectly legal! But they're barbaric and horrible! Dobby shouldn't have had to go punish himself by shutting his ears in an oven door! And neither should any other house elves!"

"But most house elves are happy doing what their masters tell them to, Hermione. I'm sure the amount of wizard families that treat their elves much better is a lot higher than the amount that treat them like Dobby might have been treated," Mr. Weasley said.

"But still! Just the fact that this is legal!" Hermione said, crossing her arms. "Elves deserve more rights than that!"

"Hermione, none of us are saying that's fair. But we're not here to discuss Elf rights. If you'd be so kind as to let that issue drop for now?" Remus asked. Hermione looked like she was about to argue for a few seconds, but she eventually sat back with her arms crossed again. "Thank you. Harry? Continue?"

"Right," Harry said, nodding and thinking back to where he'd left off. "I asked him why he didn't just leave or escape and he explained that he served them until he dies. And I said, again jokingly, that I thought I'd had it bad at Privet Drive. And then I asked if I could help him in any way."

"Bad idea, mate," Ron said, shaking his head.

"Of course it was. He burst into tears again," Harry said, shaking his head. "I had to quiet him down, and then he started talking about how he knew of my greatness, but not of my goodness, how I was humble and modest and didn't talk of my triumph over Voldemort. Well, he said over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but you get the drift."

"Not even the house elves dare to say Voldemort's name," Sirius muttered. Most everyone nodded. The Weasley's were getting better at not jumping when any of them said the name, Harry noted, but they still did flinch a bit.

"And then Dobby asked if what he'd heard was true, if I'd actually met Voldemort a second time and escaped. I nodded. He said something about how I was brave and valiant, and that I'd faced so many dangers already. And that's why he'd come. To protect me."

"To protect you?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. He said he had to come, it was too important. Even if he had to shut his ears in the oven door later, he had to warn me. Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts," Harry said.

There was a silence not unlike the one that had spread over Harry's bedroom three years previously. Finally, Fred spoke up, saying, "Has that Elf hit himself on the head one too many times?"

There were a few chuckles, but most everyone kept a serious face on. "No, unfortunately not. Or, fortunately not, I suppose. Either way, I told him that I had to go back. Knowing I was going to go back to Hogwarts was the only thing keeping me going."

"You're not staying with those relatives of yours any longer than you have to," Sirius said, looking rather sour.

"Exactly. I asked him why he was telling me not to go back, and he said I was too great, too important to lose. If I went back I'd be in mortal danger and that I had to stay where I was safe. There were plots to make terrible things happen at Hogwarts that he'd known about for months, and going back would be putting myself in peril."

"What does that mean?" Remus asked, looking concerned.

"I asked Dobby about that. What plot, who's plotting for terrible things to happen at Hogwarts?" Harry said. "But he couldn't tell me. He just started hitting his head against the wall again."

"He would have been disobeying his master by telling you, then," George said.

"Right," Harry said. "But I figured, why was Dobby coming to me specifically?"

"Because… it had something to do with Voldemort?" Sirius asked, eyes narrowing.

"Exactly. I asked him that. I told him he could just nod or shake his head; he didn't have to say anything. And after a second he shook his head no. But I could tell he was trying to make me understand something, to give me a hint of some sort. I just couldn't figure it out. I couldn't think of anyone besides Voldemort who would be capable of making such horrible things happen. And there was Dumbledore to think about, too."

"Dumbledore would always do his best to protect the school," Mr. Weasley mumbled to himself. There were a few seconds of silence as everyone nodded, some thinking about how it all had happened, others trying to think about what could possibly happen.

"Right," Harry said. "I asked Dobby if he knew about Dumbledore, and he said he did. The greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, having powers to rival even Voldemort at the top of his game. But he also said that Voldemort had powers Dumbledore doesn't, that no decent wizard would use. And then he picked up the desk lamp and started beating himself on the head with it."

"So he was close to divulging something else, then," Sirius said.

"He was. But see, as he was beating himself over the head, he was also letting out very loud yelps. Which my uncle…"

"Oh no," Ginny said, looking nervous.

"Oh yes. I heard him coming up the stairs, saying something about how Dudley must have left his TV on. So I shoved Dobby into the closet and flung myself on my bed just in time for him to come barging in. Apparently I'd ruined the punch line of one of his jokes," Harry said.

"Your uncle… was telling jokes?" Fred asked, looking like he didn't believe it.

"That's a joke in itself!" George added. "That man can't have a funny bone in his body!"

"His sense of humour is… well, unique," Harry said. "But anyway, he told me that if I made another sound I'd wish I'd never been born, and then he stomped out. A very close call. I was shaking as I let Dobby back out."

Sirius made a noise of irritation, but Harry ignored him and kept on talking.

"Now that he'd seen my uncle, I figured he'd understand more. And I told him that I had to go back to Hogwarts because it was the only place where I'd thought I'd had friends."

"Thought?" Hermione asked. "You do have friends at Hogwarts, Harry!"

"Oh, I know that now. But it had been so long without hearing from anyone, I was starting to doubt it. But Dobby replied with a comment like 'Oh, friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?'"

"How did he know that?" Ginny asked. "What did he…?"

"He told me that I mustn't be angry with him, because he did it to try and protect me," Harry said, shaking his head. "He pulled a thick wad of letters out of his pillowcase, and I saw a bunch of letters from Ron, from Hermione, even from Hagrid."

"He was stopping all your letters from getting to you?" Sirius asked. "Why would he do that? What's that going to achieve?"

"He thought that if I thought all my friends had forgotten about me I wouldn't want to go back to Hogwarts," Harry said. "And he said that he'd give them back to me if I gave him my word that I wouldn't go."

"But that's horrible!" Ginny said, partly surprised and angry.

"I know," Harry said. "And when I told him I couldn't give him my word, he looked sad, but he said he had no choice. And he ran out of my bedroom and down the stairs."

"Oh, he's not going to go down and crash your uncle's dinner party is he?" Ginny asked, now just looking worried.

"Well, he wasn't heading to the front door to leave," Harry said. "In fact, I followed him all the way to the kitchen. I could hear them talking in the room over. And I saw that Aunt Petunia's pudding, which was a huge mound of cream and sugared violets, was floating in midair very near the ceiling."

"He's not going to…" Sirius said slowly. Harry nodded.

"Oh yes he is. I begged him not to, told him the Dursleys would kill me for it, but he said that it was for my own good."

"Oh dear," Remus said, rubbing at his temples already.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "It dropped and the dish shattered on the ground. Cream went everywhere. The walls, the windows, the floor, all over me. And Dobby disappeared. "

There was a collective groan. "That can't be good," Fred said.

"No, it wasn't. Uncle Vernon managed to get the Masons back into the sitting room, telling them that I was just his mentally disturbed nephew and that meeting new people upset me. I was meant to stay upstairs. He handed me a mop and told me that he'd flay me within an inch of my life after they left."

A few people turned wide and angry eyes towards him, and Sirius said dangerously, "He what?"

"Oh, he never actually did! It was just another empty threat!" Harry shook his head. "But anyway, Aunt Petunia found some ice cream in the freezer and everything looked like it was going to end up alright. Except, an owl swooped in and dropped a letter on the Mrs. Mason's head. Apparently she's deathly afraid of all types of birds. She ran out screaming. And Mr. Mason wasn't very happy."

"Ah, tough luck," George said.

"Even worse luck was that the letter was a warning for doing underage magic," Harry said.

"But it wasn't you that cast the hover charm!" Ginny said. "That's not fair!"

"Who would have believed that I had a house elf in my bedroom, though?" Harry asked. He was met with only silence. "Exactly. But worse yet, the Dursleys didn't know that I wasn't allowed to do magic, because I'd never told them about that."

"You'd lost your only weapon against them," Sirius said slowly.

"Right. Just as Dobby hoped, Uncle Vernon told me that he was locking me up and I was never going back to that freak school ever again. And as the letter had told him, if I tried to magic my way out, I would be expelled for doing underage magic."

Sirius looked like he was about ready to hop out of his chair and go straight to Privet Drive again. "He what?" he said dangerously. "That had better be another empty threat."

"Well…" Harry said, not wanting to say anything more. But he knew he had to. That stupid promise. "Unfortunately not. He dragged me back up to my room, and the next morning he hired a man to… put bars on the window."

Harry winced as he said it, waiting for the outburst from Sirius. And he wasn't disappointed. His godfather shot out of his chair, shouting, "Bars on your window?"

"Yeah. And then they put a catflap in the door to put meals through. I was locked in my room around the clock, except for the two times a day they let me out to go to the bathroom."

Everyone was looking either sad or angry now, even those who'd known about everything. "There… there really were bars on your window?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "I thought that was an exaggeration."

"Oh no, there really were bars on my window," Harry said. She looked horrified, and rather as if she was about to cry.

Everyone's breakfast plates were forgotten about for the moment, either set down or hovering in midair. Harry snuck a glance over to Sirius, who was standing in the middle of the room and looking absolutely furious. Even Remus looked upset enough to run off to Privet Drive and start casting curses now.

"But, I only had to live through three days of that. I managed to escape." He glanced over at Ron and then at the Twins, all of who were now grinning. "See, I woke up in the middle of the night to see…"

* * *

**Alright guys, what did you think? Review, pretty please! As you all know by now from me constantly saying it, I love to hear what you thought!**


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